Serra do Cume Viewpoint

The Serra do Cume viewpoints are located at the top of the dismantled Serra do Cume complex, in Praia da Vitória, on Terceira Island, in the Azores. Of high landscaping interest, they offer one of the most beautiful landscapes of the island: on one side the bay and town of Praia da Vitória together with the Lajes plain and Lajes Air Base and on the other the large inland plain with its typical "cerrados", separated by volcanic stone walls and hydrangeas. The dismantled complex of Serra do Cume consists of the remains of a primitive volcano, possibly the primordial volcano of the island, which has a vast caldera with a diameter of approximately 15 kilometres. Its eruption formed a massive massif that extended the island's limits by several kilometres. The interior of this caldera is a vast plain currently occupied by large expanses of vegetation and pasture areas. It is also possible to see small volcanic domes formed by later eruptions that line up along a volcanic fault. During World War II this elevation served as a military checkpoint when an underground military complex was built, today abandoned, the Serra do Cume Casamates.